...

It's no joke when your parent's (chronically) in bad health, and is starting to become a bit on the old side, and is now planning to engage a lawyer to write a will and all...(even more for those who have relatives already on the deathbed)

For many people the natural response to it would be to stop looking at the temporal things of the short term (for a while) and start to see what should be done for the good of the long term: as chinese, probably some would think about respecting their parents (for many that would be the first time in a very long time) so as to not antagonise them, or worse to try to 'earn' a place into their wills, etc etc etc. Or for professing christians the thing they'd probably do is to try to 'talk-gospel' with them either by themselves or maybe (even better?) calling on the pastor (who seems holier) to come down to talk to them, maybe in the hope that they'd grab the seemingly last chance for the 'dying' to come to believe in Christ, or for some: so that their guilty consciences are appeased if they come to accept and believe before they go(or as seen in the flipside, the time of self-rebuke and guilt-striken uncertainty that comes if the person didn't accept in any sense/form before he/she left this world).

NOT that that's the reason to make us start to seriously consider what's REALLY important in the long run: that others be encouraged to continue in Christ, be it for the first time, or to carry on running the race. Why? For in further understanding of the bible as time goes by, it already shows that salvation IS the most important thing this fallen world needs, and a response to it simply is to acknowledge it's importance with what we do in our speech/actions/thoughts/lives, and not consider it only when we're about to lose something dear to us like a relationship(from death).

For those who already understand this, the challenge would be not to fall into the things 'they' do(para. 2) whilst keeping focused on these reasons. For those who have yet to come to understand one way or another(not to condemn, for in simply knowing or even understanding it doesn't make our standing before God any better), I urge you to find out and understand and test it against how we've been living our lives, and respond accordingly in your contexts...

Of course, I'll still continue to see how(and carry out the plans I've already made) can I encourage my mum (and my brother...) in godliness...
------------------------------
But even with recognising God's sovereignty in everything, including when and how we go, all the 'simulations' that ran through my head(more like daydreams of what would it be like when THAT happens. Ok, I daydream at times.) all ended up with the same result(immense grief) and the future being uncertain.

But to us humans, the (near or far) future is uncertain anyway, and whether all this really happens, whether exactly as I imagined it to be or not is of no matter. The only certain thing that WILL happen in the future is the Judge's return to judge this earth, and the end of all things, and the beginning of the new world then. And that is the thing to keep focused on, as we live in this current world.